Friends Mourn Passing of Beloved East Haven Food Pantry Leader, Salvatore Mattei

After retiring from his 25-year career as a truck driver several years ago, Salvatore Mattei Jr., then in his late 60s, wandered over to the East Haven Food Pantry to look for something to fill his time. Retired and a widower, Mattei wanted to give back to his community and thought the food pantry was a good place to start. It's unclear whether he knew at the time that he would become a fixture of the place in such an influential way.

Mattei died on Nov. 27 at age 74, just over a week after spearheading one of his favorite pantry activities -- giving out Thanksgiving turkeys --  and just shy of his five-year mark as president of the organization.

His death came as a shock to many who volunteered with him. Patty Jackson, who worked with Mattei at the pantry for about three years, said he seemed just fine the week before the holiday.

"He was even joking," she remembered. "He said, 'Isn't this great? What other food pantry does this for their people except East Haven?' He was proud of all the work that we were doing."

Pride and dedication to his work were evident to many who knew him. Christine Sandford, vice president and 25-year food pantry veteran, said that even though the doors were only open three days a week, Mattei was there almost every day stocking shelves or organizing bread collections.

"Sal was the food pantry and the food pantry was Sal," she said, adding that Mattei made genuine relationships with patrons as well. When the pantry applied for a grant recently, they put out a survey to find out what people liked best about the services offered. Sandford said many responses mentioned Mattei's considerate nature and attention to detail. He knew every client's name, and paid special attention when a family with children came in, making sure to add "a little something extra" for the kids.

"It was his extended family," Sandford said of the regular pantry visitors.

The last time she saw Mattei was the day they gave out the Thanksgiving baskets. Mattei hadn't slept all night.

"He gets all nervous about making sure everything's going to go OK [but] he was doing what he loved. Everything he did was for the people of East Haven," she said.

His kindness didn't stop there. According to another volunteer who knew him well, Phyllis Laroche, Mattei often brought extra bread and other supplies to other local food pantries.

"He saw a need and he wanted to do something about it," said Laroche.

During Mattei's tenure as president of the food pantry, both clients and volunteers grew in numbers. Sandford said the volunteer group is "resilient," and that while Mattei will be missed, there will be no interruption in services for those who depend on the pantry.

Laroche said it has been easy for volunteers to keep things operating in this hard time because Mattei took such care in making sure the pantry was well stocked. There was a meeting last Wednesday to discuss new leadership, and it is expected that someone will come forward in much the same way that Mattei did five years ago. Until then, Jackson said the volunteers have ensured that service will not be disrupted.

"It's gonna be hard to fill his shoes," she said.